In more productive regions, population densities could rise to as many as 2–3 people per 100 hectares (equal to about 140 standard soccer fields).[2] The only foraging societies with high population densities were coastal groups (most notably in the Pacific Northwest), who had access to annual fish migrations and plentiful opportunities to hunt aquatic mammals: reliable supply of high-protein, high-fat food allowed some of them to switch to sedentary lives in large communal wooden homes, and left them with spare time to carve impressive totem poles. In contrast, early agriculture, where the
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